Kane spurs Tottenham revival

City slam four past FC Basel in their last-16 first-leg tie

On the ropes after Gonzalo Higuain struck twice for Juventus in the opening nine minutes, Tottenham Hotspur launched a Harry Kane-led fightback to draw 2-2 in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday.

When Argentina striker Higuain volleyed Juve in front after two minutes and fired home a penalty seven minutes later the hosts, runners-up in two of the last three season, appeared to have one foot already in the quarterfinals.

Tottenham were wobbling but responded to dominate for long periods and Kane halved the deficit in the 35th minute with his ninth goal in nine appearances in the competition.

The outstanding Christian Eriksen beat veteran keeper Gianluigi Buffon with a free-kick 20 minutes from fulltime to give Tottenham the advantage going into next month's second leg at Wembley Stadium where they have already beaten champions Real Madrid in the group phase.

Juve, who had conceded only once in their previous 16 games in all competitions, will rue Higuain's missed penalty on the stroke of halftime but could have few complaints after being shaken to the core by a vibrant Spurs side.

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino even sounded disappointed his side had not gone on to end Juve's near five-year unbeaten run at home in European competition.

Tottenham arrived full of confidence after winning a group containing Real and Borussia Dortmund.

But they were caught cold as Juventus were awarded a free-kick and Miralem Pjanic cleverly picked out Higuain who swivelled to volley right-footed past Hugo Lloris.

Tottenham had barely put two passes together when they fell further behind. Ben Davies was caught napping and his rash tackle sent Federico Bernardeschi flying to give the referee an easy decision to point to the spot.

Higuain duly converted despite Lloris guessing the right way and getting a touch on the ball.

From a position of control, however, Juve began to retreat and allow Tottenham's creative department of Eriksen, Mousa Dembele, Erik Lamela and Dele Alli to pull the strings.

Juve were dangerous on the counter-attack with Higuain almost scoring a third but Tottenham were back in the tie when Alli picked out Kane after 35 minutes and the England striker rounded Buffon before sliding home.

Tottenham had a huge let-off on the stroke of halftime when they were caught on the counter-attack and Douglas Costa enticed Serge Aurier into a desperate lunge to concede another penalty.

Higuain took the ball but rather than celebrate a first-half hat-trick his penalty rattled the crossbar.

Juventus played more like the away side in the second half with Tottenham again pressing, although the hosts went close with Lloris saving well from Bernardeschi and Mario Mandzukic then heading straight at the thankful French keeper.

There was barely a dull moment and when Tottenham were awarded a foul 25 metres from goal Eriksen drilled a low shot that deceived Buffon and nestled into the corner.

City sparkle

Manchester City effectively killed off their Champions League tie against FC Basel after 23 minutes on Tuesday, flattening the Swiss champions with three quickfire goals on their way to a 4-0 away win.

Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Sergio Aguero scored within nine minutes of each other in the last 16 first-leg tie to almost certainly extend Basel's wait for a first quarterfinal appearance in the competition.

Gundogan curled in the fourth from the edge of the area in the 53rd minute as the runaway English Premier League leaders clocked up another emphatic win in their remarkable season.

Basel did their best to make a game of it and created several openings but looked vulnerable every time City attacked.

City, who have lost in three of their previous four appearances at this stage of the competition, enjoyed the lion's share of the possession with 69 percent, although that was still unremarkable by their standards.

Despite the scoreline, City had 12 shots to Basel's 11.